At 6am on Wednesday I was in bed, refreshing the weather app like it owed me money. Sixty per cent chance of showers. Then forty. Then seventy. (Refreshing it didn't change the forecast, it turns out.)

I'd pictured this lunch for months. A long table on the harbour at Sydney Fish Market, sun on the water, nobody in any hurry to leave. It had taken that long just to find one date that suited everyone in the Beauticate Collective. These are women with clinics, businesses, columns, podcasts and books on the go. Getting them all in one place felt a little like herding very accomplished cats.

So when the Lua team quietly moved us inside, I had a small private wobble. Then I sat down. It was warm, light-filled and comfortable, with the bay still glittering through the windows. Nobody was cold. Nobody was clutching a napkin against the wind. They were right. I was wrong. Lunch was saved.

The long table at Lua set for lunch, with menus and a mirror at each place, before the guests arrived
The long table at Lua, set and waiting
The table at Lua set with pink quilted makeup bags, glasses and a window view over Sydney Fish Market
Estetika makeup bags at every place

Why the Collective needed a lunch

The Beauticate Collective is the group of experts, writers and founders whose voices shape so much of what we publish. I chose every one of them deliberately. Yet many of them had never met. They'd read each other's pieces, shared each other's posts and seen each other's names in my inbox, but they'd never sat at the same table.

Four guests standing close together smiling at Lua
Sigourney, Jocelyn, Michelle and Kate

I wanted to change that. Partly to build a community of women who raise each other up. And partly, as I confessed in my speech, because I love them all and wanted an excuse to spend more time together.

A guest in a leather jacket and sequinned skirt holding a pink quilted bag and a tote of gifts in the entrance of Lua
Michelle
Sigourney in her blue dress holding a bouquet beside a guest in a patterned skirt at Lua
Shentel, who brought Sigourney the most beautiful flowers to say congratulations

There was plenty to celebrate too. Beauticate has just relaunched after twelve years, and the Beauticate Shop is open. It felt like the right moment to raise a glass.

Four women in conversation at Lua with a neon sign and timber ceiling behind them
Sigourney, Jocelyn, Michelle and Kate
Three women laughing together at Lua, one holding a glass
Simone, Kerrie and Sigourney

Lunch at Lua

Lua sits right on the water at the new Sydney Fish Market, looking out over Blackwattle Bay. The name means fire in Vietnamese, and the charcoal hearth at its centre makes the point for you. Luke Nguyen was out of town on the day, but the Lua team looked after us beautifully. Huge thanks to Shelley Mitchell, Head of Events at Doltone Hospitality Group, and Doltone House COO and founder Nina Milazzo, who made it all happen.

The glass front of Lua at Sydney Fish Market, with a potted plant and the purple Lua sign
The entrance to Lua at Sydney Fish Market
Sigourney in a blue knit dress standing beside the long table at Lua, with harbour windows behind
Sigourney at the long table

Around the table were Kate Waterhouse, Jocelyn Petroni, Dr Leanne Girgis, Shentel Lee, Simone Aspinall, Kerrie Gentle, Kristin Rawson, Brooke Stevenson and Michelle Bridges, joined by Elle Halliwell and Dr Nel Wijetunga. Rae Morris, Camilla Thompson, Monique McMahon and Jacqueline Alwill were missed. Next time.

The dining room at Lua, with guests seated along the long table beside floor-to-ceiling windows over the harbour
Lunch at Lua, with Blackwattle Bay behind the glass

We started with Champagne, then moved on to rosé and cocktails, which loosened everyone up nicely.

Two guests talking with glasses in hand at Lua
Champagne in hand
A cocktail garnished with an orange flower beside a pink quilted bag and a Lua menu
Cocktails at the table
A guest in a black leather shirt smiling beside the window at Lua, a pink quilted bag on the table
A window seat at Lua

Then Giovanni, Lua's venue manager, led us up to the bar for the bit I'm still thinking about. One of the chefs held a flambadou, a cast-iron cone, in the coals until it glowed, then filled it with wagyu beef tallow. It caught fire and dripped in flaming beads over freshly shucked oysters.

A hand holding a flaming flambadou over the charcoal grill at Lua, flames rising behind the grill wheel
Cooking the tallow for the oysters. Pure theatre
Tall flames rising at Lua's charcoal grill, with the grill wheel above
Flames at the Lua hearth
A chef at Lua's charcoal hearth working over the flames, with fish hanging above
Fire and oysters at the Lua hearth

They hissed. Every phone in the group went up at once. (Mine included. I'm not above it.)

Freshly shucked oysters topped with herbs on a bed of ice in a metal dish
Freshly shucked oysters on ice
Guests gathered at the bar at Lua in front of the open kitchen, with the harbour behind
Giovanni, Lua's venue manager, explaining how the oysters are cooked

Back at the table, the food kept coming. Kingfish crudo in fragrant coconut milk with rice paddy herb, cool and bright.

Kingfish crudo in a pale coconut milk sauce with herbs in a white bowl
Kingfish crudo in fragrant coconut milk

The wagyu pho tartare, one of Lua's most-ordered dishes, which somehow tastes exactly like a bowl of pho without the bowl.

Wagyu pho tartare in a white bowl with a rice paper crisp and a wedge of lime
The wagyu pho tartare

A chicken and cabbage salad, crunchy with pickles and sharp with Vietnamese mint. Charred eggplant with pickled daikon, shallots and pine nuts.

A whole fish in a bright herb and oil sauce in a white dish, being served with a fork and spoon
Another dish from the banquet

Then the wagyu sirloin landed, blushing pink, with a pho jus and a Vietnamese salsa verde I'd happily have drunk. The table cheered. Not for the chef, though he deserved it. For the protein. Every woman there is trying to eat more of it, and here it was, sliced and fanned out in front of us. Nobody left hungry.

Guests seated along the long table at Lua, pink bags set at each place and harbour windows behind
The table mid-lunch
Two guests in conversation at the table at Lua, a pink bag in the foreground
Jocelyn
A guest in a navy velvet blazer trying a makeup product from her gift bag at Lua
Elle swatching BOOIE's Bring Back the Bush

The gift bags

Our shop brands were extraordinarily generous. Each guest went home with hair care from St. Louis Says and OiTO Haircare, fragrance from Archer Farrar Perfume Atelier, LAMAV skincare, Sunescape tan (one of my long-time favourites), JSHealth's Lean+ powder, a treat from Kine and buj's The Uplifter, a breast cream I've been quietly evangelising. A few of the women had also chosen candles from Lumira.

A St. Louis Says tote spilling gift products including LAMAV, buj and hair care, beside a pink quilted makeup bag
Gifts from the shop brands
A hand holding an Archer Farrar fragrance box and buj packaging over a St. Louis Says tote
Archer Farrar and buj

Wanda from Estetika donated the beautiful makeup bags. Inside them were treats from Basics By B, BOOIE Beauty, LAMAV's CC Cream and IMBIBE Collagen Lips.

An open pink Estetika makeup bag on the table, filled with LAMAV, Kine and other products
Inside the Estetika makeup bags
A LAMAV BB cream, a concealer and makeup brushes laid out in front of a pink quilted bag
LAMAV makeup and brushes
A St. Louis Says tote filled with gifts from the shop brands, beside a pink quilted bag, seen from above
A tote of treats from the shop brands
A pink quilted Estetika makeup bag with its leather zip pull, on a green marble table
The Estetika makeup bags

We'd set little mirrors along the table, which turned out to be a very good idea. Within minutes the bags were open, lids were off and Shentel was lining up her Basics by B makeup brushes. It looked less like a lunch and more like the best kind of backstage.

A guest looking down as she unpacks a gift bag at the table, with the harbour in the background
Shentel playing with her products
A guest at the long table going through her makeup bag
Shentel lining up her Basics by B brushes
A small mirror and menu at a place setting on the table at Lua
One of the little mirrors
A hand holding a LAMAV concealer above a pink Estetika bag, with a BB cream beside it
A LAMAV concealer

Several of these are Australian brands founded by women. JSHealth's Jess Sepel is one. That matters to me. You can shop all of the brands from the day on the Beauticate Shop, with Kine joining soon.

The bit that mattered most

I said a few words between courses about why I started the Collective and what I want Beauticate to be. A trusted friend who's done the research and can say, "Here you go. These are the good ones."

Guests along the long table at Lua reaching across with cocktail glasses in a toast
Raising a glass

I told them they're the reason Beauticate has authority, credibility and heart. I meant every word.

The host laughing as glasses are raised along the table at Lua
Glasses up between courses
A guest smiling and listening at the long table at Lua
Listening between courses

But the moment I'll keep came after the speech, when I sat back and just listened. Breathwork at one end of the table. Perimenopause in the middle. A spirited debate about supplements somewhere near the eggplant. And beauty, of course, everywhere. Phone numbers changing hands. Women who'd been names in each other's feeds that morning, talking like old friends by the time the plates were cleared.

Guests embracing in a candid moment at Lua
Candid moments from around the table
Two guests laughing together at Lua
Laughs between courses
Four guests posing together at Lua, smiling at the camera
Sigourney, Kerrie, Elle and Kristin

That's my favourite thing in the world. Bringing good people together, then getting out of the way.

Three guests standing together in front of the neon Lua sign
Dr Nel, Shentel and Leanne
Sigourney in her blue dress standing with a guest in a camel wrap coat at Lua
Sigourney and Kristin
Guests reaching across the table with glasses in a toast at Lua
Toasting across the table
Sigourney in her blue dress smiling at the table at Lua
Sigourney
Three women posing together in front of the neon Lua sign
Elle, Sigourney and Kate
A smiling guest holding a pink quilted Estetika makeup bag at Lua
Kate

As for the harbourside lunch I'd dreamed of? The harbour's not going anywhere. Next time.

The long table at Lua in full swing, with guests talking and the neon Lua sign behind
The long table, still going

Book Lua

Lua is at Sydney Fish Market, 1 Bridge Road, Glebe. It's open from 11am daily, until 9pm Sunday to Thursday and 10pm Friday and Saturday. Book a table on Lua's website. Groups of eight or more book through the group bookings page, where a banquet menu is required. Banquets start from $79 per person, though menus and prices can change.

Lunch hosted by Lua and Doltone Hospitality Group in partnership with Beauticate. Products in the gift bags were gifted by the brands mentioned. Photography by Chloe Paul (@chloepaulphoto).